A Murder On A Book Tour
by Where's Beckett
Summary: Part 3 Set immediately after A Cold War Murder and "A Murder In The Hamptons". This is third in the series. Read them first. They are married and getting started in their new world when Castle gets stuck on a book tour complete with a murder. The system does not allow more than two descriptions, so this is romance, drama, a little more humor
1. Chapter 1

**Basic Rules**

 **Castle, the TV show, belongs to ABC/Disney. No copyright infringement here.**

 **I am cheap and do this for nothing**

 **This story follows _"A Murder in the Cold War"_ and _"A Murder in the Hamptons"_**

 **READ THEM FIRST**

 **I write AU so…once again this story does not follow any part of Canon.**

 **No comments about me doing something different from the TV show**

 **Chapter one is fluff, setting up the basic rules their married life will contain**

* * *

She is having a little trouble accepting the fact that she is really married to this man. She actually captured him all for herself. Or more accurately, he chased her until she caught him. She smiles at the thought

Katherine Houghton Beckett-Castle…

That is legally her name now. She knows that she will not fully accept the name change immediately. But after they return to the city and when she begins the task of moving into the loft, it will finally become real to her.

Or maybe when she reports into Human Resources at the department and notifies them of her change in marital status. That might be the trigger to help her accept

Katherine Houghton Beckett-Castle… Her new name is Katherine Houghton Beckett-Castle

Until she can completely wrap her head around this she will try her best to answer when someone calls her by her new name. When the new name of "Mrs. Castle" is said. Whenever someone calls out to her

They began the day again all snuggled in the bed together. She has found out how much she likes being cuddled by him. It feels like home to her. A real home. Not just a bed where you sleep and a room to shower in, but a real home. With real family surrounding you

Her heart screams out 'This is Heaven'

Breakfast gets delayed. Just after they woke up this morning, Castle received a call from Black Pawn that he needed to have a meeting with them. It seems the word had already reached his publisher that the playboy mystery writer was no longer available. Not just unavailable, but permanently unavailable. But also they wanted to talk to him about an upcoming book tour that needed to be scheduled

After having a lite breakfast she decides that since he had to conduct some business here at home, she will go into town, alone, and do a little shopping for her boudoir. Pick up some little something just for him, with the descriptive word, LITTLE, being the major factor in her selections

She walks into the study to find Castle making notes for discussion before having the call to his publisher

"Hey babe, what cha doing?"

He never looks up "Checking on dates for the book tour. I forgot I had promised to do this back before you and I got together. So I am trying to make it as far out as possible so, maybe, we could go together. You know, make it a honeymoon and book signing?"

This is when he glances up he sees that she is dressed to go out "You going somewhere?"

"I am thinking about going into town and see if I can find that plastic surgeon that worked on Joy Mason and see what enhancements he might be able to do for me" as she looks down at her own chest

Castle almost chokes when she says this

Beckett continues in her jab at her husband "She seemed to be very happy with her chest. I thought most men wanted a woman who had…" Beckett looks down again at her own chest "…uh…big teeth"

"What? No! You do not…I don't…I don't think…you don't need…" he is having trouble even breathing

He finally is able to speak "You don't need any enhancements. You are perfect just like you are"

"Are you ok with what I have?"

"Un Huh"

"Are you sure?"

He pulls her down onto his lap and wraps his arms around her "I have never been more sure of anything in my life"

"Good" she pulls his face to her own and gives him one long sweet kiss "Good. But I do need some other items. I thought would go into town and buy a couple of things while you are on the phone with your publisher. We came out here with only a few days of clothes and I will need some more things before we go back to the city"

"If you give me a few minutes to have this conference call and I will go with you"

She stands back up "No babe, I want to go alone. I have a couple of personal items I need to pick up"

"Ooooh!" The glee in his voice is obvious"How personal?"

"Very personal" She bends down to gives him another kiss. This allows his eyes to wander down the front of her blouse

"That's for me to know. And if you mean what you said about the no need for enhancements… It is for you to enjoy…that is if you are very, very good" she chides him a little

His breathy responds without looking back up "OH!"

His wandering eyes do not go unnoticed

She reaches for his chin and lifts his face up to hers. His eyes are glazed over

"I'm up here"

Her sultry voice is interrupted by his phone ringing announcing an incoming call from Black Pawn. He hand fumbles across the desk trying find and pick up his phone while not looking away from his wife. He finally is able to locate the device and answers "Castle"

Kate kisses his cheek and then she heads out the front door to the driveway leaving her husband to the conference call with his publisher.

Once out front, she opens the door and sits down in the driver's seat of the Castle's Mercedes. Now it is THEIR Mercedes. She has never driven one before. She did have the opportunity to take a spin in his Ferrari a few years ago, but this is much more plush in a professional way.

She heads out of the driveway, on the main road, and into town to make a few purchases.

Her first stop is at the drug store to get a few cosmetic items then back on the road toward the main shopping district

As she drives down the road, she passes several little shops selling everything from swim wear and supplies to the frozen yogurt store and the dress shop where they purchased her wedding outfit. Just past that store she sees her destination 'Karen's Apparel'

Kate parks the Mercedes out front of the store beside the other BMW's, Jags and even a Corvette. She feels a little out of place but her transportation fits right in with the other vehicles

She steps inside the store and is immediately struck by the expanse of intimate apparel on display. She knew this town is known for week end trysts and extra material liaisons but she had no idea as to the lengths some went to help these events occur

At least, in her case, her shopping was to keep her marriage alive and interesting. She had only taken a few steps into the store when a clerk greeted her and told Kate that if she needed help with anything, she was Karen and to please let her know. Kate acknowledged the offer and went about her browsing

A few minutes later another patron entered the store and was also greeted by the owner. Except this time Karen obviously knew the customer as they greeted each other by their first names. The customer moved quickly to the sales counter

The owner started the conversation loud enough for Kate to hear "Joy Mason came in today"

"What?" the patron responded "She needed another bra? Did she burst out of the old one?"

"No. She needed a larger size"

Both women chuckle

'Why does that not surprise me?' Kate thinks to herself

"OH! And guess what else she told me?"

"What"

"She went by Richard Castle's house"

Beckett stops in her browsing

"So what? She has been trying to get to him for years now. Did she think getting another increase in her cup size was going to do it for her?"

"No! Joy said he is engaged"

"WHAT?" Really? To Whom?"

"Don't know. Joy said that there was a woman with him at his house. That she was a tall gorgeous brunette with hazel eyes and that she was all over him like she owned him or something"

"Lucky woman" the Karen comments.

She then looks at Kate who has been listening to these two women taking about her not knowing who Kate is

"Is there anything in particular you are looking for? Can I help you with something special?" she says to Kate

"No. Just looking around" Trying to act like she is not listening to the gossip she returns to her browsing

The customer starts up again "well anyway I heard that Rick had changed lately. He used to bring all the models and celebrities here for the weekends but not lately now…"

"I know what you mean. Some of my customers have said that he has not brought any new women here in a long time. In fact, it has been several years"

The customer continues "Oh! Except his ex wife, but that has never worked out when she came"

"Yeah. I heard that the yelling between them could be heard all the way to the marina. They did nothing but fight about something"

"From what I heard they fought about was this other woman. This…Beckett something. It was the woman cop he wrote the Nikki Heat books about"

"She must be something then, because I heard that he turned down every advance thrown at him over the last couple of years from every single and even a few not so single women"

Kate decides it is time for her to make her purchase and get out. She takes several very intimate items to the counter and places them down

"Is this everything?" Karen asks

"Yes" is Kate's one word response

The owner of the store picks up the items to ring up her purchase, examining them one by one as she does so. Each item is designed to grab a man's attention. Then she looks up at Beckett "Your boyfriend is going to really love these things"

"He's not my boyfriend" Kate holds up her left hand showing her ring

"OH! Then this should keep your husband coming home every night"

"That is my plan"

Kate reaches into her pocket and pulls out her credit card and presents it to the clerk. After swiping the card thru the reader, she looks at the imprint so she can call her customer by name

"Thank you MS. Beckett….. " Karen stops mid sentence and looks up and has a panic look on her face

"YOU'RE KATE BECKETT?"

"Actually I am Mrs. Richard Castle" and she smiles. She takes her purchases and steps out the door

Once she pulls the Mercedes back into the driveway, she sees her husband standing in the foyer looking like a lost puppy waiting. He rushes out to help her bring her bags inside but she shuts him down by taking the sacks and not letting him carry anything except the bag with the eye shadow and eye liner

"What's in the other bag" He tries unsuccessfully to snoop into her purchases

"I told you if you were good, you MIGHT get to see later" and she pulls the bag away from his grip.

"How was your conference with you're ex wife?"

"OH!" he steps away after delivering his one word response

"Not so good?" Beckett asks

"No. She has me booked beginning the middle of next week to go to Texas for a week"

"WHAT?" Beckett is obviously not happy "We just got married and I was hoping to spend time together"

"Me too. And I have no desire to go to Houston in August. It is hot…very hot and humid. Your clothes stick to your body"

"I wish I could go. When you were not in the bookstore, we could stay in the hotel. You know, air conditioned room. No clothes sticking to you" she flashes her eyes at him causing him to loose his breath

"You love doing that to me. Don't you?"

She leans right into his face and with her most sultry voice "There is something else I like doing more"


	2. Chapter 2

Katherine Beckett–Castle is sitting at her desk looking at the clock every few minutes just waiting until 5:00 o'clock rolls around so he can pack her bag and head home.

Except today the home she is headed for is her old apartment and not her new home in the loft with Castle. He left late yesterday and she had gone home to the loft and tried to sleep alone. But it just was not the same, so tonight she is going back to her old place.

Her desk phone rings just about two minutes before quitting time. She almost does not pick it up because she knows if it is a murder she will be required to take the case instead of leaving for the day

"Beckett" she speaks into the phone. A small smile appears on her face "Hey Lanie"

Listening to her best friend for just a minute "Yes. That would be great. You bring the wine, I will get us a pizza. No! I will be at my place tonight, so you come over there. OK?"

After another pause "See you at 7:00" Kate hangs up on the call then looks at the clock. It is after 5:00 so she packs up her bag, jumps up, and briskly walks to the elevator waving at the boys as she goes "See you tomorrow"

Her partners respond in kind as she turns the corner to the elevator

The moment that Beckett disappears into the elevator cab Ryan looks over to his other partner "I have never seen Beckett so happy before"

"And so ready to head out after work. That was Lanie on the phone. She told me earlier that she was planning on calling Beckett and setting up a girl's night with her since Castle is gone for a few days"

"When is he coming back?"

"I think Beckett said on Monday or Tuesday. Something about Houston, Dallas and Oklahoma City, then back home"

Ryan finishes the thought "That is a trip through some of the hottest places in the country this time of year"

"Yeah, she said Castle had to buy cooler clothes for the trip. Short sleeves and lighter weight fabrics"

"She seems a little lost without him already" Esposito comments

Ryan finishes the thought "Right. And a long way from how it was four years ago"

Both men shake their heads at the comment

* * *

Kate opens the door to her old apartment and steps across the threshold. She had picked up the mail in her PO box downstairs and dropped it on the table as she enters. She then hangs her jacket on the rack and takes her bag into the bedroom.

Walking back to the living room she looks over the mail. Noticing nothing but junk mail and advertising in the pile, she picks up her phone and places a call to the neighborhood pizza delivery to get dinner on the way.

She uses the time waiting for the order to arrive to go back into the bedroom and pack some more items to take to the loft. To her new home. The home with her husband.

The knock on the door breaks her thoughts. "I'm coming Lanie" she yells as she pulls open the door to greet her friend

The fiery medical examiner flies into the room almost running Beckett over in the process

Lanie Parish begins her friendly rampage on her best friend almost before the wine bottle hits the counter top "It is about time you slowed down long enough for this, Kate Beckett…oh I mean Kate Castle"

"Slow down? What do you mean Lanie?"

"For the last two months you have been running full tilt on those long legs of yours with you hair on fire and not telling me any little thing about what happened with you and writer boy. Then you suddenly up and marry him? I need a complete detailed report about this new part of your life and how it came about"

"Easy Lanie. A little bit at a time"

"No girlfriend! I want it all. Every detail! Every little thing You don't get to leave out even a single moment"

Kate poured a glass then she looks off, trying not to make eye contact with her best friend "He's different Lanie"

"Different how?"

"You remember how he was before? Girl on either arm"

Lanie shakes her head "Yeah?"

"He had stopped being that guy?"

"Kate, we all saw that"

"I know. But I though he was still with his ex wife, Gina"

"OK. He was not with Gina and you weren't seeing anyone either" Lanie exclaims

"But he didn't know that. In that shelter we got to doing one of those things…you know?"

"Yeah, I know where you two lock brains together and keep talking. I don't know how you guys did that without jumping each other a long time ago"

Beckett laughs "We didn't. I mean we just couldn't stop this time. It was too…" She pauses "Too good. We admitted to each other we were in love…Are in love"

After the arrival of the pizza, these two best friends spend the next three hours in a more lengthy and detailed discussion about how, when her and Castle got trapped in the cold war fallout shelter they, both continued their dance avoiding any discussion about if they were or were not dating someone else and how they felt about one another.

Dr. Parish was not in the least bit surprised at the banter Kate told her occurred just before they locked themselves together finally

Lanie laughed out loud as Kate described what happened with her and Rick trying to get dressed while the boys were working to unlock the door and enter the shelter. How her and Castle were not fully dressed when Ryan and Esposito arrived on the lower level of the shelter.

Kate told Lanie how embarrassed she was when she saw what her hair looked like to the boys giving away the fact that her and Castle has just untangled themselves from each other

Beckett next tells Lanie about how Martha came in on them the next morning. The description of Kate and Rick being caught by his mother brought tears to Lanie's eyes from laughing so hard

"Tell me that Alexis didn't walk in on you two" Lanie questions

"Oh yeah she did" Kate then goes into detail about her handcuffs and that neither her nor Castle could reach the key. She fills Lanie in on the misunderstanding about Alexis thinking her dad was with another woman and how that got cleared up at the charity event

"It would have been really embarrassing if you got caught by your dad…" Lanie continues

Beckett looks at her wine glass "Yes it was"

"Girlfriend! Your dad walked in on you two?"

"Not exactly. Castle and I came here to get away from the red heads and I forgot about my plans to have dinner with him and he showed up"

"What did you do? Make Castle hide in a closet?"

Kate laughs "No. My dad saw a change in me and knew it had to be Rick. We worked it all out. My dad really like Castle"

"He should Kate. Castle brought you out of your shell and gave us this vibrant woman in front of me today".

"Lanie" Beckett whines

After a moment of silence "So. Is there anyone who DIDN'T catch you two in the act?"

Beckett looks at her wine glass as if trying to find evidence of a crime "Gates"

Lanie's eyes pop wide open "How would Gates have caught you? You would have had to be in the precinct…" Lanie halts short then looks harder at Beckett who has now turned fire engine red "You didn't!" short pause before "You DID?" Lanie Parish lets out a small chuckle "Where?...When?"

Beckett cannot even look up to her best friend "Yesterday…in the janitor's closet"

Lanie Parish is at a loss for words.

Then Kate finishes "He was leaving directly from the precinct to go to the airport for his book tour. We couldn't go home and…well. We were going to miss each other and…"

"You two are a walking disaster looking for a place to happen"

Lanie takes another sip from her wine glass "What caused you to decide to jump over the engagement and marry him"

Beckett pours a little more courage into her glass "I found out a lot more about Rick's history…at least his history concerning his feelings about me"

"What did you do? Become a fly on the wall listening in on one of his wild parties?"

"Yes" is her one word reply

"How did you do that girlfriend?"

"You knew about the evidence from the boat? The videos?"

"Yeah"

"I watched one of the videos from about a year ago where Castle was talking to another man about women and how Rick could have any woman he wanted there at the party but he said he was not interested"

"OK" Lanie responds "What happened?"

"Castle told the man he was in love with me and would be forever. Even if I married someone else"

"That explains a lot. You are totally into this. Aren't You?"

"Completely"

"So what are you going to do this week end with him away?"

"I'm thinking about flying to Dallas and surprise him"

"I am sure he will enjoy that"

Kate puts on one of her evil grins "I am going to make sure he enjoys it"

* * *

 _ **Or maybe he will not enjoy it as much as he thinks he will.**_


	3. Chapter 3

Houston was miserable. Miserable in several ways

One

It was miserable because it was so hot. Like the earth opened up and the molten center was oozing out

Two

It was miserable because it was so humid. The humidity was so high you had to carry a knife to slice your way thru the air

Three

And the biggest reason it was miserable was Kate was not beside him every inch of the way today. Or for the next several days for that matter

He had arrived late Wednesday evening and had then spent all of Thursday at the downtown Border's Bookstore. With all the concrete around downtown making it extra hot. Especially for a native New Yorker. He was amazed that the heat of the day was at 5:00 o'clock and the temperature never dropped below 90 that night

But, at least, after finishing his signing obligations, he was able to have a nice quiet meal at one of the local, fully air conditioned, steakhouses where Paula had arranged a table with a local newspaper reporter, Bobbie Wiggins, for an interview. Paula was always thinking about how to get one more promotion in for his books

Bobbie had begun the interview in a normal manor asking about his older Derrick Storm books and how and why he killed off Derrick Storm Then she progressed to Nikki Heat. She asked about his inspiration of Nikki and his face lit up like a Texas sun at high noon.

Fortunately, for Castle, the reporter, who was female and a fan stayed professional in her duties. That is until they finished the interview and the meal "Well Rick, since you are here all alone tonight. Would you like to go somewhere for a drink? There is a really nice bar over at your hotel"

"Bobbie I am flattered, but you might have missed out on the part about Kate Beckett, my inspiration for Nikki Heat"

"Oh no! You described her very well. Strong. Fierce. Driven. In fact you almost sounded like you were in love with her"

"I am in love with her…and married to her" He holds up his left hand to show off the ring

"She turns on her sexy voice "You know the song, 'If you can't be with the one you love…love the one you're with'"

Castle responds firmly "Sorry, Bobbie. Not going to happen, now or ever. My women chasing days are over"

"OH come on! Don't you ever get bored? You know need a little spice in your life?"

"No Bobbie. My life is full of love and commitment and I don't see needing anything else right now"

"Too bad. It would have been great" she states

Castle politely smiles at the interviewer being reminded of his former self. He reaches out a hand as he stands to leave "Thank you for your time Bobbie and the meal"

Richard Castle stands up and leaves the steakhouse and walks back into the sultry heat of the night

.

It was then back to the hotel so he could grab a shower and then Skype his lovely wife and have a little romantic interlude with her while he was trying to wind down from his day.

He had originally planned to fly up to Dallas/Fort Worth Thursday evening but a convention in Dallas had all the rooms booked closest to the store location he was scheduled to be at on Friday afternoon. So he was forced to remain in Houston until Friday morning

Fortunately the flight from Houston Hobby airport to Dallas Love Field is less than an hour and he will have plenty of time to relax before the book signing. Then he stays in Dallas until Saturday then flies to Oklahoma

When he gets into his room the message light is blinking on the room phone. He dials the message retrieval number and gets to hear the voice of his wife "Hey babe. I miss you. I wish you were here or I was there. Skype me when you get to the room. Love you bye"

He can't help but smile and at the same time feel sad. Sad that she is not here wit him. When he first met her four years ago, she pushed him away as hard and hast as she could, but in truth he was not too surprised at her actions. He had been pretty much a jerk around her, so he was not bothered when he was not with her

But now, he can't imagine his life without her. She really has become his everything. The love of his life.

He hurries through his shower and finished his evening preparations so he can leave in the morning and head for Dallas.

Once he completes his shower he takes his tablet from the carry all and selects the Skype call to Kate.

There are just a couple of rings when the answers but all he can see is the nightstand beside her bed. This tells him she must be at her apartment. Then he can hear her voice

"Hey! Babe. I've been waiting for you to call"

"Sorry, I got tied up with a woman at dinner"

There is definitely a change in the tone of her voice "UH…Tied up?...Tied up how? What woman?"

"A reporter for the Travel Texas magazine. She took me to dinner and interviewed me. Paula set it up?"

"You…you went…you went to dinner with her?" It definitely sounds like Beckett is struggling with this

"Kate. It was just an interview meeting. At a very popular and crowded steakhouse"

"OK?"

Looking at the screen, Castle has not seen Kate's face yet. The camera on her tablet is obviously not pointed at her

"Kate? I can't see you. All it sees is the nightstand beside your bed. Where are you?"

She responds "I'm right here"

"Well I need to see you. I Skype so I could see you. And why are you at your apartment? Why aren't you at the loft?"

There is a moment of silence before she responds "It was too lonely at the loft. I missed my husband"

Castle's heart soars at the comment

"So what did you do today?"

"You know the usual. Paperwork. We have nothing new right now. I did see Lanie. She came over for pizza and girl talk"

"That's good…No wait! You didn't talk about us did you? You and me? What we have been doing?"

"Well, yeah! I told her everything. Every little salacious detail"

Castle lets out a low groan. "If you tell Lanie about what you and I do in private, do I get to tell the boys about your…"

"NO! CASTLE! Don't you dare!"

"Kate?" he speaks softly

"Yeah?"

"I love you"

"Back at ya" she responds

"Kate, why have you not moved the camera so I can see you?"

"OH. That! I might have done something and I didn't want you to see it until you come home because I want to be sure you are OK with ii and…"

He interrupts her "Kate? What did you do? Let me see"

"Are you sure?" she says sheepishly

"Beckett? Show me"

"OK. I don't want you to get mad"

"I won't get mad. I promise"

"Promise?"

"Yes" He is actually getting concerned now at her avoidance of the situation

"OK…" the camera begins to shake and he can tell that she has positioned the tablet so she can step in front of the camera "don't be upset"

Richard Castle's eyes almost pop out of his head and he cannot control himself when the image of his wife appears on the screen wearing the nightgown he loves so much that she wore for him when they first got together except:

She has placed two large balloons under the bodice making it appear as if she has had breast implants making her bosom almost as large as the ditsy blonde from the Hamptons

The laughter from his end of the phone almost has her worried that he is actually alright

* * *

 **I do like silly**


	4. Chapter 4

**I allowed a guest review to pass because I cannot understand it. After reading this story this person accused Kate of having one foot out the door and not being committed to the marriage.**

 **Can someone explain to me where that came from because this story has nothing like that in it?**

* * *

Katherine Beckett-Castle walks into the 12th precinct and places her stuff on her desk then heads directly toward the break room and the Espresso machine.

As she enters the room, she finds her two partners finishing a brew and taking their cups away

"Hey boss" Ryan speaks first. You look like you could use a jolt this morning" he hands over his freshly made drink

"Thanks Ryan" I need that.

"You look like you stayed up late last night" Esposito comments

Her face turns red "I…uh I did. A little late"

Ryan uses the time to dig a little "Castle isn't here so that is not the reason you were up past your bed time. So what happened?"

Her face gets more red than before "we were…we were on the phone kind of late"

"Talked or face time?" Ryan asks

She looks down "Skype"

"So you talked…er I mean you Skyped for a while. How late?"

She tries to walk away and answer in a mumble "two am"

Esposito cannot help but comment "What were you two doing on Skype until two AM?"

Then it hits Javi what they were doing but Ryan trying to make a joke and just has to make a comment "Phone Sex?"

Beckett never looks back but her gagging is clearly heard as she slams the break room door

* * *

The flight from Houston to Dallas is easy. The commuter flight was not crowded at all. In fact the crew mentioned that there is a plane scheduled every hour during the day. There are a lot of business people who fly between the two cities, sometimes more than once in a day

Since he spent several late night hours with his wife sort of, Richard Castle tries to catch up on his sleep but the short flight gives him almost no sleep time at all.

Once he arrives in Dallas, the car service that Paula arranged was waiting in the airport at the bottom of the escalators immediately next to the baggage claim

Once they picked up his bag, they were in the car and on the road. The one thing he notices different in Dallas than Houston, the temperature is about the same but the humidity is much lower. He feels like he went from a stream sauna to a dry sauna.

At least here he can sweat. The car ride is relatively short to the Regent's Convention Center Hotel. The car service drops him off at the Porte Cohere where there is a large number of men and women leaving the hotel along with some arriving

At the registration desk he is greeted by a lovely young lady who checks the computer for his reservation

"Welcome Mr. Castle. So glad you are joining us today. We have a small delay in your room. The previous group is still in the process of checking out and it will be a few hours before the room will be ready. If you like, you can leave your bag with the bell captain and we will get it to your room when it is ready"

"That will be fine" Castle responds

"And if you like, you can wait in our roof top lounge or I can give you a train pass and you can go sightseeing for a little while"

"I think I will take you up on the train pass. How far can I go on that?"

"It is a day pass. It is good all day. You can ride from one end of the system to the other".

"That sounds interesting"

She continues "I might recommend you take the Green Line to Deep Ellem and find a nice café for lunch"

"What is Deep Ellem?" Castle asks

"An eclectic part of town east of the central business district where there are lots of blues clubs, other clubs and some great cafes. Let me give you a map" she hands him a local map of attraction

"That will be nice. I will try that"

Castle takes the rail pass and walks out the door and follows the signs to the rail station

* * *

In New York, Katherine is sitting at her desk just hoping that there is no murder so she can leave like she planned and head to Texas to surprise her man.

That is when the phone on her desk rings. She looks at it with disgust then finally picks it up "Beckett" she listens then her face falls as the dispatcher gives her the information on a body found in an alley behind Public School 47. She writes down the information the calls out to the guys "We got a db" she waves the paper then stands up, grabs her gun and bag and heads toward the elevator

After arriving at the scene the coroner van pulls up and Dr. Lanie Parish steps out and begins her walk to the crime scene.

Just as Lanie approaches the group, she hears the sound of the voice of her best friend talking to her partner Esposito and giving orders to some uniforms to canvas the area.

"Do we have the victim's name"

"Ronnie Davis. He is the principle here at PS47

Interrupting her friend "Beckett! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be getting on an airplane for Dallas right about now?"

With a voice that is obviously down Kate responds "Yeah I WAS. But it looks like killers have different ideas"

Overhearing the conversation Kevin Ryan steps up "Were you planning on meeting up with Castle this afternoon?"

Beckett points at the body "Yes, but this came in and…"

Esposito interrupts "Beckett! We can handle this. You go and see your husband"

She does not need any encouragement "Are you sure?"

The two men point at the entrance to the alley at the same time "GO!"

Her face lights up and she turns and is almost running as she yell "thanks guys"

"After what she did to him last night I am sure he would rather see her in the flesh" Esposito comments

Lanie looks at the two guys "What are you two talking about?"

Ryan has a silly grim "Evidently they were up half the night on Skype having phone sex"

Javier comments "That would be Skype Sex"

* * *

Castle had a nice lunch at a Cajun themed café and used the extra time ridding around the city on the train, but he did have a signing commitment at the Borders Bookstore Galleria mid-afternoon so he had to return to the hotel before the car service picked him up

His early afternoon was filled with the usual groups of, mostly women, fans seeking the signature of the author on the pages of his book. He was very pleased to notice that many of the fans were already aware of his marriage and he was given multiple congratulations from them. Several in fact asked where she was. They were hoping to meet the famous Katherine Beckett aka Nikki Heat and now Mrs. Richard Castle

After he returns to the hotel he called down to room service to grab a snack planning to sit down and call his wife and have them entertain each other as they had done the night before but her phone kept going directly to voice mail like it was out of range of turned off

He jumped into the shower and had just finished when there was a knock on the door and the voice from the corridor 'room service'

Wrapped only in a towel she rushed to the door and opened it not paying attention to who was outside the door "Come in" he spoke loudly and then pointing, he indicated where to place the food cart. As he moves quickly back into the bathroom.

When Richard Castle returned to his room he had put on a terry cloth robe from the selection in the bathroom. As he headed toward the location where he indicated the cart be placed he was in for a shock.

Standing just inside the door was Katherine Houghton Beckett-Castle with a smile on her face like a cat just getting ready to devour a canary

He stutters trying to walk toward her and talk at the same time "What…? What are you? What are you doing here?"

"You want me to leave?"

As he leans in pressing her against the door, his response is "Immediately!" as he wraps his arms around her and her around him, they begin to kiss each other senseless

A short time later, the line of discarded clothes beginning at the door leads to the bedroom where the two are completely tangled into each other in short order

The dinner service meal grows cold still in the cart near the door

Later, Rick has his head propped on his hand and is looking at her face "other than what we just did, is there another reason you are here?"

She smiles back at her husband and with a little shrug on her shoulders "Nope. That pretty much covered my reason for coming"

"Are you planning on jumping back on a plane now?"

She looks off to the side "No I don't think so"

"Why is that?"

"'Cause I would just have to turn around and come back again tomorrow"

"Tomorrow?" he asks

She grins again "or maybe later today"

There are no words to express the happiness in Richard Castle's life right now. His books are selling very well, especially the Nikki Heat novels. The woman who inspired Nikki and the woman he has loved for years is his wife.

AND she just flew half way across the country to be with him.

He reaches under the sheets and gently slides his hand across her abdomen causing a tingle to rush across her entire body "I have known you for four years and I never once knew just how passionate you are"

She reaches up to his face and wraps her long fingers into his hair and slides them down his neck bringing the same surge of electricity to course through him "That's because until you and I made love, I never felt this passion"

He smiles at her "Really?"

"Your love for me, Richard Castle, caused this"

"Our life is great now. What could possibly go wrong?"

There is the sound of a harsh knock followed by the hotel room door flying open and a group of men carrying guns enter yelling 'POLICE Don't move"

The couple find themselves naked in bed only covered by a sheet with about a half dozen SWAT officers standing in the room holding them at gunpoint

* * *

 **Martha, Jim, Alexis, the boys**

 **Now the DPD! Who else can catch them?**


	5. Chapter 5

**For the Kate Haters out there...Sorry. She is totally committed to this relationship**

 **I guess I have to re state this**  
 **She does NOT have one foot out the door. Nothing in this story indicates otherwise**

 **They have only been married for a week. Together as a couple for 6 weeks.**  
 **How fast do you want her to get rid of her old apartment?**

* * *

"Get your hands up and keep them up" the powerful voice of the lead officer booms out into the room

Beckett's brain is instantly wondering what the hell is going on? How in the world did they end up on the receiving end of a tactical raid with a team bursting into a hotel room on a no knock warrant?

Castle raises both his hands but Kate keeps one hand on the bed sheet holding it up to her neck making sure to maintain some level of modesty in the current situation. This is not very satisfying to the lead tactical officer

"I said get your hands up"

"I have my one free hand up. I will NOT raise both my hands while I'm still holding this sheet up to keep myself covered up"Beckett states firmly in response to the words of the lead officer

"That is not good enough. I want to see that both your hands are empty"

"My hands are empty! Look jerk! I know you cannot make me expose myself! Now either get a female officer in here…"

"Listen Vickie! We have warrant for your arrest"

"My name is Kate. Kate Beckett and not Vickie I am a cop and you have a warrant from where?" Kate is not removing her hand from the sheet protecting her modesty

"It is an out of state warrant from NYPD"

"OH wait a minute…this is a gag! Right?"

"No lady. This is no gag! We have warrant from homicide in New York. Detectives there want to talk to you about killing your husband"

"Castle and I are being punked. You were sent by Ryan and Esposito. This is not funny guys and I will so get those two when we get home" then she glances over at Rick

The police officers standing in the room do not seem amused by her comments

"Lady! I don't know what you think you are talking about but we are here on an arrest warrant issued in New York for Vickie Davis and how did you know we were sent by New York Detectives Ryan and Esposito?"

Beckett loses her smile "Are you serious?"

"Yes we are serious. So get your hands up"

"Ryan and Espo are my partners. I am a New York homicide detective. Look in the living room where you will find my badge and ID" She is using her free hand she points toward the living room and indicates where her bag is located

"What are you saying lady? That you are a cop?"

"Yes! That is what I just said. I am a New York Police Officer and Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito are my partners"

The sergeant looks over his shoulder toward the main room then back at the pair currently in the bed "Don't move"

Beckett responds "We wouldn't think of it"

Meanwhile since Rick has raised his hands allowing his side of the sheet to drop to his waist Kate looks at him and starts to chuckle

A moment later the office reinters the bedroom holding Beckett's badge and ID folder

"You're Detective Katherine Beckett?" he comments while looking at the photo id "What is your ID number"

"Badge number 41319" she responds

"You're a cop?"

"NYPD Homicide 12th Precinct. Yeah!" her voice indicated just how angry she is at the moment

"And who is this man? "Pointing at Castle

That is my husband "Richard Castle" her angry temperament has not lowered any"Now, sergeant. What is this all about and why are you in our room?"

Of Course, Castle is enjoying watching her. He always gets excited when his wife turns up her mean side and kicks in to her badass detective mode. And this situation is making her look just that much sexier in his eyes

The lead officer turns to the group "Lower your weapons. She IS a cop"

The group all return to a non-offensive posture

Beckett speaks firmly to the crowd "Now if you will all leave the room and let me and my husband get dressed we will see you in the living room"

"Yes. Of course ma'am" he turns "let's go in the other room" and his team exits the bedroom leaving Castle and Beckett alone once again

"Well that's one way to start a weekend romantic getaway" Castle states as he pulls back the sheet and stands up as Beckett does the same. The two look at each other's naked bodies and are just thinking about what happened

The officers waiting in the living room are not sure why the couple that they just left can now be heard laughing hysterically

A few moments later the laughing slows down then followed in a couple of minutes by the bedroom door opening and a bath robe clad Richard Castle steps into the main area.

He starts by grabbing Beckett's travel bag then begins picking up her clothes including her blouse, boots, and pants along with a large portion of his own outer apparel.

Fortunately for the lovebirds' humility, Kate's underwear was on the floor in the bedroom and not scattered along the floor from the front door to the bedroom door

He casually grins at the officers as he retreats back into the sleeping area and closes the door

After a few minutes Castle returns to the living room where he now finds the lead swat officer and another, obviously higher ranking man waiting for his entry. The other rifle toting men have left the space

"Mr. Castle I am Captain…" Rick holds his hand up indicating for the man to stop talking

"The apology can wait until my wife gets back in here. I am sure that she will have several questions along with some other more intense words to use and she will want to use them only once, so let's just wait for her and you will not have to repeat your apology"

Castle turns and goes into the kitchenette and starts coffee for him and his wife

It is just another few minutes before Kate exits into the living room where Castle immediately hands her a cup along with the one he is holding for himself.

Beckett sits down on the couch and Castle joins her. She looks directly at the two men across from her. When she begins, these two can quickly tell she is very good at facing suspects and has no fear of the bad guys or them for that matter

"So what would you two like to say to us to try and keep me from going directly to IAD and having a long conversation about a tactical team bursting in on me and my husband while he and I are trying to have a little alone time"

"Detective Beckett, I am Captain Ron Baxter and I am the Captain of the homicide unit here. The counterpart of your boss, Captain Gates and I want to personally apologize for the intrusion but we were operating on an out of state warrant issued at the request of your own homicide unit and your very own team in New York"

Beckett gets a look on her face of concern "A warrant issued against this Vickie Davis woman?"

"Yes. I personally spoke to Detective Ryan just a few minutes ago and he almost burst out laughing over the fact we entered your room"

Under his breath Castle can be heard commenting "I'm sure he did"

"Detective Ryan said to have you call him and he will give you all the details"

Beckett pulls out her phone and dials Kevin's cell. She puts it on speaker. After only two rings the Irish detective answers "Hey Beckett. I am so sorry about this but you see…" Kate cuts him off

"Ryan! What is this all about?"

"You know the man we found this morning behind PS47?"

"Yeah! That was just about the time I left"

"We got his cell phone and he had a text message threatening to kill him. We traced the number to his wife's cell phone. We discovered his wife was in Dallas for some type of a school administrator convention"

Castle responds "Ryan, a lot of those convention people were leaving the hotel when I came in this morning. In fact my room wasn't ready when I first arrived. I had to wait for it to be cleaned"

"Well, we traced her phone to Dallas and when Tory pinged it, it came back to her room…I mean your room. That is when we had the warrant issued and sent to Dallas to have them execute it"

Beckett looks at Castle "That explains the raid" then her and Rick look at the captain who is shaking his head to acknowledge the reason they were interrupted

"But there is no cell phone in the room" Kate looks at Castle "Did you see a phone anywhere?"

"No, but I wasn't looking for one either. Ryan, can you get Tory to send the data to Beckett's phone and we will use her tracking app to try and locate the phone"

"We sent it to the Captain Baxter. He has it"

Castle and Beckett looks at the captain who is holding a tracking unit up. Beckett indicates for him to start his search. The unit quickly centers on the area around the bed. When he bends down he spots the cell phone under the bed. Using gloves he retrieves the phone and places it into an evidence bag

"Ryan, they found her phone under the bed" Beckett tells her partner. What else have you found there?"

"Nothing yet boss but Espo has been at their home. I have not seen or talked to him in several hours…wait here comes Esposito" they can hear Ryan talking to his partner off the phone 'I got Beckett and Castle on the phone from Dallas'.

They hear the voice of Esposito come on loud and clear "Hey you two! How is the Skype sex going?"

Castle looks at his wife who has just turned red and buried her face in her hands.

The two local police officers are standing by in shock


	6. Chapter 6

The number one thing that Kate Beckett never imagined happening to her was to get married to her favorite author. But coming in close behind that was not expecting to be sitting in a hotel room with that new husband embarrassed to no end by her partners from New York City.

But today all of that is happening. Big Time

She stands, turns, and quickly walks into the bedroom away from the two local PD officers and her husband. She closes the door as she enters the room

Richard Castle stays seated while watching his wife walk out of the room with her shoulders slumped "If you two can excuse me for just a minute…I need to go…" he is pointing toward the now closed door "over there…"

and Castle also walks to the bedroom opening the door and entering then closing the door as he disappears inside

Once he enters the room he sees his wife standing still in the middle of the space close to the bed. He is not totally sure about what just happened and what this is all about so he quietly takes a step towards his Kate

Thinking that Beckett is standing here, obviously hurt, causes him to feel her pain as well. He is also almost in tears himself

As he comes closer to her, he hears her making a sound that would best be called a whimper. He also notices that she seems to be quivering a little. Well actually, quivering a lot

He reaches out to her shoulder he plans to touch her gently not wanting to upset her more than she already is. Then he speaks just as his fingers reach the top of her shoulder beside the nape of her neck "Kate…?"

She stops her shaking when she feels his hand and turns around slowly and then looks up to his face. This is when he sees tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

This is also the moment he realizes she is not crying or sobbing, she is laughing or more accurately trying to hold out on going into full blown hysteria. The tears he has seen are flowing because she is laughing so hard at what just happened

She drops her head onto his chest and this is when she muffles full blown laughter.

To say Castle is completely blown away would be mild. He is trying to hold his wife close and she is almost falling on the floor in fits of laughter

When she finally gets a grip on herself her eyes are smiling as she looks up into Castle's eyes and sees his confusion

"Hey babe" she chokes out between sobs of laughter

He expresses his concern in his next question "What is going on? I thought you were embarrassed by what Espo said and you were crying and…"

"I was…I am… embarrassed or maybe all of this is mortifying. But you know what, babe? I think this is our lot in life. You and me. We get to solve a murder or two interspersed by getting caught or embarrassed by our family and friends and co-workers, all the while we are trying to catch up on four years of sexual tension between us"

Her admission that she was sensitive to the tension herself tells him just how long his feelings for her were not unrequited. She felt a lot of the same emotions he did

"Tension? What tension are you referring to?" he tries to deflect her comment "I am not aware of any sexual tension between us for the last four ye…" his words are cut off by her lips on his

"Shut up and kiss me, mister! Then we need to get back to work. I have a murder to solve"

He complies with her request then responds "Wait a minute…you don't have a murder here. That is in New York and you, my lovely wife, you are here in Texas with me"

She drops back flat on the floor then turns toward the door, I may be in Texas but my victim is in New York"

Castle follows her as she walks back into the living room., Once she comes closer to the two local officers "Captain I am so sorry about what just happened, but Castle and I have only been married a little over a week and my partners are having a field day messing with us"

Captain Baxter smiles back at Beckett "I completely understand. You should see some of the antics that go on here. Just like your team. I have teams that are more like a family feud that co-workers"

Rick responds "We appreciate that captain"

"The name is Ron. Since we all carry the badge…and by the way Detective Beckett, New York police detectives have a very nice badge"

The tactical officer hands her id case back to her

"Thanks" Kate responds as she takes her folder back

Baxter looks at the pair like he is trying to ask a question without embarrassing himself "Can I ask you something detective?"

"Sure" she is not positive where this is going

Looking at Castle "You are Richard Castle the author?"

"Yes" he responds

Then looking at Beckett "Then are you the cop he followed to write Nikki Heat?"

"The one and only" Castle responds not giving Kate the chance to answer

"Well that explains a lot"

Kate is not sure how to take that comment "What do you mean?" not sure where this is going

"How you showed your interrogation skills when my team came into the room in there" pointing to the bedroom "The way he wrote Nikki Heat and her tenacity. I wouldn't mind having someone like you on my team as well"

"Thank you" she replies "Now that I have a murder that I need to work on. What do you know that might help me?"

The three move to the table in the suite and Castle gives Beckett a hotel note pad and pen for her to use

The local homicide captain begins "We were alerted by Ryan and Esposito about the victim in New York and that there was a threat to kill him by his wife who was here at the educator's convention. We had used the data from her phone to track her to this room. That is when we came in on you two. As of right now we do not even know where she is"

"Did she fly back to New York?" Castle asks

"No. She missed her flight. In fact we just found out that that she dropped her luggage with the bell captain downstairs earlier saying she had something to do and her bag is still there"

"So we think she is still here in Dallas somewhere?" Kate asks

"It would appear so. But we just don't know. I had Sergeant Keller take the phone we found to the lab along with the luggage she left here. We have requested a search warrant for the baggage and the cell phone we found under the bed. We should have it soon"

Castle has that kid in a candy store look that Beckett recognizes so quickly "Ron, Would it be possible for Beckett and me to go to the precinct with you and look over whatever evidence you uncover?"

Castle feels Beckett poke him under the table

"Well, here we do not have precincts. We have patrol divisions. Seven in fact. In this case we are in the Central Patrol Division, but we will not be going there, we will be going to the headquarters building. Similar to your One Police Plaza"

"OK" Castle responds

"And yes you can join the investigation. I think, in fact, there are several officers there that would love to meet you two. A lot of the detectives are big fans of Nikki Heat"

Castle and Beckett go and get dressed then return to the lobby where the captain is waiting for them. As the pair walks off the elevator it is obvious why Castle married her and why she was his inspiration for Nikki. Captain Baxter can see how many eyes are on her as she seems to take command of a room by just walking across it

Outside the pair enters the cruiser as they have so many times before, just this one is not Kate's unit. Inside the vehicle it is really no different than her vehicle. Same make and model. Same emergency lights and siren control. The police radio is only slightly different from hers.

They arrive at the police headquarters in just a few minutes. They did not realize that the hotel was only about 10 blocks from the building. They pull around back where the captain parks

Walking across the open air lot Castle and Beckett are struck by the openness of the location. Lots of space without buildings literally next to one another. The headquarters building is modern with a lot of glass windows inviting the light in

Once inside they travel to the homicide floor where they are greeted by a crowd of men and women who seem honestly pleased to meet these two.

Once the greetings are completed they are shown a conference room where they see the luggage and cell phone waiting to be searched. It is only a minute when the captain rejoins them followed by two other detectives. A tall African-American and a slightly shorter Anglo man.

"This is Lieutenant Johnson Elder" pointing to the African-American, and Sergeant Jake Salazar. They are my best homicide guys"

After the introductions are completed the door opens and a civilian places come papers in Elder's hands. He looks at them "Here are our search warrants we have been waiting for"

The group begins by opening the suitcase and going thru the contents. Nothing of interest is found. Just the usual, clothes and bath items.

While the bag is being searched a tech specialist has arrived with a cart containing a compelling array of technical gadgets

The woman introduces herself to Castle and Beckett "Hi! I'm Claudia" she turns her attention to Rick, totally ignoring Kate "and I just want to tell you how great it is for me to finally meet you. I have read all your books" and her voice seems to have a hint of giggle "I am your biggest fan and I have wanted to get an autograph and…"

Her fangirling is interrupted by the officers "We need to unlock this cell phone and see what is on it"

She turns her attention back to her work with a tone of dejection "OK, let me see what we have here…"

Just moments after she starts her work, the door opens again and the captain enters the room "Hey, we got a body, female about thirty five, no id. We think it might be Vickie Davis"

Leaving the tech specialist doing her work, the team walks out following the captain to the crime scene

* * *

 **Sorry everyone. We need to get back to crime solving**


	7. Chapter 7

Detectives Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito are walking down the corridor approaching the morgue entry. They have come to get the report from Lanie on the victim found behind their walk to the main room, they are involved in a very heated conversation about the comment Javi made on the phone to Beckett and as they turn the corner and enter the morgue doors they come face to face with one very determined and extremely unhappy medical examiner

It appears that she might have just been lying in wait for them

"What the hell were you two thinking? And you Javier, opening your mouth and putting your foot in it…I will tell you one thing, if you ever do something like that to my best friend again I will personally I will put something in your mouth that you will find very displeasing"

"Doing? What are you saying Lanie? What did I do? How could you know…?" Esposito is attempting to defend himself against whatever onslaught that Lanie Parish is planning to rain down on him for his earlier egregious action

"You said something embarrassing on the telephone to Beckett while she is sitting in the hotel room with Castle and there are several high ranking Dallas Police officers including the homicide captain there. And what you said was embarrassing and horrible. When she gets home you might want to find a place to hide because if her husband doesn't come down on you she definitely will"

"Look Lanie I was just having a little fun and giving Beckett a hard time about having Skype sex with her husband the other night…"

"Well it is probably all over the Dallas PD by now and you know how sensitive Kate has always been over the Nikki Heat stuff, this just has to be horrifying to her…to them both"

The Hispanic detective stops talking then in his defense states. "You're probably right"

"PROBABLY RIGHT? You KNOW I am right…so you might just try to think of a way to get out of this pit before they come home and tie you down with a pendulum"

His eyes get big "OK" he responds

Then Ryan takes back up on the case "Lanie, we came down here to see what you have on our victim, Ronnie Davis"

Dr, Parish, while still glaring at Esposito, reaches over to her clip board and begins reading "White male age 37. Overall good health, early indications of coronary artery disease, but that is not uncommon…no drugs or alcohol in his system but there is indication of infrequent use of cannabis"

Esposito comments "so he was a casual marijuana smoker?"

"It would appear so"

Ryan looks a Lanie "So what is the cause of death?"

" was shot. In the back but not there where you found him. There was not enough blood…"

"So he was killed somewhere else and the body dropped there behind the school where he was the principle" Ryan states

"It would seem so. If you guys can find the blood pool, you will have your crime scene"

"OK Lanie. We will go looking all over the City of New York for the place he was killed"

Lanie smirks at the two men before they walk out the door

* * *

 **DALLAS**

* * *

Riding again in the back seat of a police car was not listed on Castle and Beckett's plans for today and as they approach the lot following along with the two Dallas detectives. They were pleasantly surprised when the men walked past the unmarked Crown Vic's and approached a larger Tahoe with a full back seat, yet still containing the utilitarian equipment of a police vehicle including the emergency equipment.

Rick and Kate found the back seat very comfortable and since they were not at work in the City, Rick let his hands roam as they ride thru the streets from the headquarters building. Instead of pushing him away, she receives his hand and places hers on top of his linking them together. The simplest actions are the best

They pull off the lot then drive toward the high rise building of downtown, then before entering the central business district filled with large buildings, they turn east and enter onto an interstate highway

The front seat passenger looks over the seat to the pair "We are going to Lake Ray Hubbard. It is a reservoir…a man made lake. The body was found there just off the shore" Lieutenant Elder tells the pair "Even though it is surrounded by other cities, the lake itself belongs to the city of Dallas, so a body found there is Dallas jurisdiction"

"So this is really close?" Beckett comments

"Yeah it's only about 15 miles to the lake, then another 2 or 3 miles to the site where they found the body"

Castle looks up to the front "You call that close?"

"Yeah" and with a little chuckle "From the south tip of the city to the north end is about 25 miles. East west is shorter"

As they start their trip, Beckett takes out her phone and calls Ryan "Kevin, they found a woman's body…do you have any pictures of Vickie Davis for us to compare? Great, send it to my phone…we are on our way to the body drop now. We will call you after we get there" and he hangs up

"If this is our victim's wife we will have a picture to compare" she comments to no one in particular

It takes them about 25 minutes to arrive at the crime scene. It is off the beaten path. This looks like a good place to make a body dump. No houses nearby, no docks where boater might stumble on the corpse. This time it just so happened that a fisherman used the cove as his favorite spot and when he looked toward the shore he spotted the body.

Today is one time Beckett was glad she had not worn her high heeled boot, just some flats because the ground terrain was rough and uneven. More than once, Castle had to hold her to keep her from loosing her balance.

When the two local detectives stepped to the scene, they were greeted by the local medical examiner, Dr. Rosa Mendes

"Hey doc" Jake Salazar calls out as he moves close to the body "what do you have for us this beautiful day?"

The very stunning woman glances up and it is immediately evident to both Kate and Rick that there must be something going on between these two. There seems to be a chemistry that splits the air between them

She smiles as she responds "White female probably mid 30's nice clothes. Shot once in the back. Looks like a 9mm. She died where she fell"

"So this is the crime scene?" Beckett asks

The question coming from someone that the doctor does not recognize shows on her face with some question

"And you are…?" Doctor Mendes asks

Jake answers before either Castle or Beckett can "Rosa, this is Detective Kate Beckett with the New York police department and Richard Castle her…"

Before he can finish his introductions "The author Richard Castle?"

"The very same" Castle responds

She stands up and walks toward the couple "I am one of your biggest fans. You are so great on the details of murder. And I have to say your Nikki Heat series is…well…" she gets close to him and almost whispers "titillating"

Kate is not very comfortable with the ME being so chummy with her man "Well his crime scenes in the books are so accurate because he used actual crimes to write about" The flavor of jealousy is almost palatable in her voice

Castle uses the opportunity to cool the situation down a little when he enters his description "and those crime scenes were covered by the best homicide cop in New York city, Detective Katherine Beckett" Rick takes her left hand and holds it up for the woman to see "and most importantly my wife"

"You two got married?" the doctor asks "I never heard that. When did that happen?"

"Just over a week ago" Beckett responds

Then by accident she can hear one of the other officers nearby comment "And from what I heard they are still on their honeymoon"

Kate smirks a tiny bit from that but decides to continue "So, Doctor Mendez, do you have a time of heath?"

"Yes. I believe the victim was killed sometime around midnight yesterday"

Beckett pulls out her cell phone and opens the images files. She selects the photo of Vickie Davis and hands the phone to the ME "Is this your victim?"

The woman takes the phone from Kate, accidently touching the screen causing the image to change. Immediately thee woman has a shocked look on her face ""NO! I don't think so" And even for a doctor she seems to turn red

Beckett takes the phone back to herself to see what caused the reaction from the doctor and she immediately turns red herself "OH! NO!" and she quickly starts searching for the correct picture

Castle leans into Beckett "What was it?"

Kate mumbles under her breath "That selfie we took of you and me the other night at my place"

Rick's only comment "OH"

Beckett finally finds the correct image and, without letting go of the phone this time, turned it to the medical examiner "Is this your victim?"

"That's her"

Beckett looks at Castle and comments "she could not have been the one to kill her husband in New York"

Castle continues "and she could not have been the one to drop her bags off with the bell captain earlier today"

Kate comments "Then who dropped the bags?"

Castle finishes "And who killed her husband?"


	8. Chapter 8

After watching the victim's corpse being placed into a body bag by the coroner's staff and then onto the gurney, Castle and Beckett are standing several yards from the shore just looking across the water. From where they are standing they cannot see the opposite shore

"This is a big lake" Castle comments to Detective Elder

The officer looks up "No, not really. We have several much larger than this one. This is a backup water supply lake. Water is taken from here only after the other lakes have gone too low. People use this for recreation most of the time"

The local detective pauses briefly before continuing Actually, we were in a severe draught until just last month" He pauses as if thinking about something "In fact the water was so low, had they dumped the body on the shoreline a month ago, it would be under water today"

"So we are lucky this was not last month?" Beckett states more than a question "So will they be taking the body to your headquarters?"

Detective Salazar responds "No. The Medical Examiner's office is a job of the county, not the role of the city. They will take our victim to the county ME's office near Parkland Hospital. We will have preliminary results tomorrow"

"Well then can you take us back to our hotel. I have to go to Oklahoma tomorrow morning for a book signing" Castle asks

"Sure. We will drop you off on our way back to our office" Salazar answers

After they return and get into the Tahoe, Beckett's phone rings. Caller ID says 'Gates' she shows the phone to Castle before answering

"Beckett" she listens for a minute "Yes sir, I understand. We will work the case from here. The Dallas police have been very helpful to us" she listens again then "I will get with Ryan and Esposito as soon as we get beck to the hotel" she looks at her watch "Oh right, it is an hour later there. I will call first thing in the morning" She punches the end button and looks at Castle "She said since the suspect is the man's wife and she was here Gates wants me to work the investigation from here"

Detective Elder looks back to the couple "That will be good. I think that will work well for both our departments. I will get a space set up for you to use at one of the empty desks for tomorrow"

"Thanks detective" Beckett responds then looks at Castle "You need to leave tonight?"

"No, first thing in the morning. Then I will catch at return flight and come back right after the signing is finished"

She and leans into him and whispers softly into his ear "That means we still have tonight"

Castle's breath gets caught in his throat

Beckett realizes she needs some more clothes. Speaking at the two men in the front seat "Is there a store nearby I can pick up some clothing items? I did not bring but a one day change of clothes. I was planning to leave tomorrow when Castle goes to his next book stop"

Detective Salazar turns back to the back "Sure, we will pass close to a Macy's if you like that store?"

Beckett responds "Sure that is fine"

The police pull into a large mall and park close to the store's entrance. "We will make it quick" Kate comments as her and Rick leave the Tahoe

"OK We ill be right here Elder comments then looks at his partner "Watching those two reminds me of you and Dr. Mendes"

"What are you talking about?" Salazar snaps back

"You know exactly what I am talking about. Where are you two going to stop this dance and get together? I already lost a lot of money on you two already"

"The other detective looks at his partner "You are betting on me and Rosa?

"The entire department and forensics service are too. Yeah!"

"Look, it complicated"

"No it is not" Elder answers then points toward the entrance where Beckett and Castle just went in "I heard those two took four years to get together. So are you and Rosa trying to break their record?"

Inside the store, Beckett has made a bee line toward the ladies clothing area. On the way they pass by the lingerie section where Rick slows down then finally stops as he is gazing at the never ending selections of items.

When Kate realizes he has stopped and is gawking at the intimate appare, she returns to his side

"Quit staring at the racks Castle!"

He almost jumps out of his skin when she steps up to his side "UH, Oh…I…uh…I was just admiring the…the selections they have here"

"And wondering what I would look like in every one of them?"

"Well, uh…yeah I was"

"I'll tell you what. I have something at the hotel I think you will like better than any of these" she waves her hand around the area

"You brought that…?"

She does not even let him finish "I have something I think you will like even better" she takes hold of his hand and almost drags him toward the blouses and slacks she came here to buy

After a quick shopping trip the group are once more heading back to the central business district. Most of the ride back to the hotel is filled with cops telling cop stories and the four laughing about how criminals are not the brightest lights on the Christmas tree no matter where they are.

The two detectives drop Castle and Beckett back at the hotel where they go up to their room.

Beckett goes to her shopping bag and opens it and takes out what new items she bought "I really did not mean to make you have to go shopping to buy me more clothes. I just did not bring enough to stay for more than a day"

"Not a problem" Castle responds "Say, do you want to go down to the restaurant and have some dinner?"

"Sure. Let me freshen up a little" and she walks into the dressing area"

"Castle goes to his laptop to check for messages. This is when he finds an e-mail from Paula "You two make quite a pair" and there is a photo attached. Castle opens the image to find a picture taken of the two of them in front of the hotel, standing, holding hands, and getting ready to leave with the police

"Hey love, we made the papers again in New York"

She comes out ready to go down to eat "What did we do now?" as she walks over to him, leans down, and places her chin on Castle's shoulder as she looks a the computer screen

Castle shows her the photograph and a caption "Mystery writer and his detective muse in Dallas. Working with her on a case or working on each other?"

"Hum" Kate murmurs in hi ear "Which is it Castle?"

* * *

The two spend a quiet evening in the main restaurant having a casual meal while listening to the soft sounds of a grand piano with music from an accomplished musician.

They then move over to the bar for more time alone having a nice glass of wine and more

music, this time from a jazz ensemble playing in the background for their late night pleasure.

"Castle" Beckett looks to her husband's eyes where she sees that love for her that has been present for so long "Do you realize that this is the quietest moment we have had since we got married?"

"I know, but I didn't want to jinx it by bringing that up"

She touches his hand "Ready to go back upstairs?"

He simply smiles across to her and stands. Taking her hand and leads her toward the elevators

* * *

She awakens the next morning to find Castle has showered and is almost ready to leave for the airport. She turns toward him "Hey babe. You are up early" almost a question instead of a statement

"Remember? We are in a different time zone. 6:00 o'clock here is seven in New York" He walks over to the room service cart where he had already ordered their breakfast. He has her usual fruit and a yogurt. He takes a cup and pours a cup of coffee for her and carries it to the bed

She stretches her arms out "OH yeah. I forgot. But why are you already up and dressed?"

He places the coffee in her hand "My flight is at 9. I need to be at the airport by 8 then I get to Oklahoma do my signing duties and then I can hurry up and get back here. You know to work on the case some more"

She looks up at his face with a sneer and reaches out and pokes him gently "OH the CASE! Huh? That's the only reason you need to hurry up and get back here? To work on the case?"

He then takes her hand and has a wistful look on his face "I might be convinced to return for other reasons"

She gives him another smile then Rick asks a question "What are you going to do today?"

"I think I will go to the police headquarters and do some of what I do best. Investigate

The room phone rings announcing to Castle that the car service is downstairs. Rick leans over to kiss his wife "Don't solve the murder without me"

Beckett returns the kiss "Promise not to pick up any book groupies"

"Promise" He give her another kiss and rushes out the door

After Castle walks out the door Beckett finishes her breakfast. She takes out her phone and places a call to the local detective to get a ride to the headquarters building then she gets up and grabs a quick shower. After her shower she walks back into the bedroom, opens her bags and takes out her new clothes and in a very few minutes she is dressed and ready for a new day

Just as she finishes pulling on her boots, there is a knock on the door. It is almost a panic knock and she can hear a woman's voice frantically calling out

"VICKIE! VICKIE! OPEN THE DOOR"

Beckett is cautious in pulling the door open when she comes face to face with a shorter raven haired woman. It appears this woman is expecting Vickie Davis but it is evident that this other woman does not know her on sight.

"Vickie? I'm Ida Crawford. I missed my flight and I am so sorry I am late but I brought everything you needed


	9. Chapter 9

Katherine Beckett, Homicide Detective extraordinaire, is fully capable of going from the real woman police officer she actually is, to the undercover detective/agent she can be and has done so on several occasions in her history with the NYPD

Usually when she went undercover, it was well planned. A solid backstory was created. A legend was put into place that could not be breached easily just in case the suspect wanted to test her history.

But, today, she was not fully ready to kick into this mode, but she quickly shifts her brain and body into the part. Fortunately for Beckett, the woman now standing in her hotel room seems to not know the victim on sight, so Kate can twist and turn into any person she wants and hopefully the suspect here will be none the wiser

"WHO ARE YOU?" Beckett/Davis asks

"IDA. I'm Ida Crawford. My husband, Wally, has have been working with your husband"

The woman appears very frightened. "Listen I don't know what is happening here or what our husbands are into but when Wally called me and told me to go get this" she holds up the suitcase "and said it was a matter of life and death, I did what my husband told me to do but I have to tell you that I am scared. I mean really, really scared"

This woman is almost panicking and it shows in her voice and body language

"What did your husband get my "Wally into anyway?" Ida asks

Then she just continues with her rant. "When Wally called me and told me to go to the Cayman Islands to go get the money from the bank account I went straight to the office to get the file he told me to retrieve with the bank information but I had to go by the house first and get the key for the office"

This woman just continues to babble trying to tell her story

Not knowing anything about what this woman is saying, Beckett is trying to think quickly to find a way to get this Ida woman to divulge more details "So what took you so long to get it?" she asks with determination in her voice

"The directions your husband gave Wally did not include the fact that the file cabinet was also locked so when I got the key from the house, I did not get the file cabinet key then I had to break into the file cabinet to get the bank information

"That's not a big deal" Vickie/Kate responds "You pop the lock and the drawers open" Beckett is trying to determine what else might be in the file cabinet

"The time issue caused me to miss my flight out of New York and that delayed me just enough that I was late arriving to the Caymans and that made me late to the bank and had to wait for the bank to open the next day so I had to rebook the return flight and the first flights were all filled up and I had to wait another day before getting another seat…wait a minute" the woman seems to see something about Kate that does not add up for her

The woman suddenly takes an aggressive stand "You are not Vickie Davis. I was told that Vickie Davis had blond hair! You don't have blond hair"

The woman grabs the case and tries to head for the door.

Beckett blocks the exit "No. I am not Vickie Davis! I am Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD and I am investigating the murder of Vickie Davis here in Dallas and her husband Ronnie Davis in New York"

"He's dead? She's dead? You're a cop? When were they killed?" The woman seems on the edge of panic

"The day before yesterday. Why?"

"That means the message I got telling me what to do…" the woman turns and looks at Kate

"What it?" Beckett asks

"It came before they were killed. I've got to get out of here" Ida, again, tries to leave the hotel

A knock on the door causes her to jump "Who is that?" she almost scream out. It appears she thinks that someone might be coming for her

"That will be my ride" Beckett responds "I am working with the Dallas Police at their headquarters building "and that will be Detective Elder" and she opens the door revealing the specified man there

"Good morning detective Beckett" elder says just as he notices the second woman present in the room "Hello"

"Detective Elder, this is Ida Crawford and she seems to be involved in our case somehow"

He has a questioning look on his face "OH? How is that?"

Beckett continues "she just appeared at the door thinking I was our victim, Vickie Davis, telling me a story about picking up a case of money at an offshore bank" Beckett points to the briefcase the woman was carrying when she arrived

Ida Crawford has sat down on the chair beside the table at the kitchenette and seems resolved to answering the questions she knows are coming

"I think we need to take this to HQ" Detective Elder states and indicates for the woman to stand up. He asks her to turn around and he hands Beckett his handcuffs. Kate tells the woman that she is a person of interest and this is only procedure

Beckett leads the woman out of the door with the Dallas detective picking up the case and following them downstairs

* * *

 **New York**

Detective Ryan and Esposito are looking over the usual documents on the victims Vickie and Ronnie Davis but so far nothing seems out of the ordinary.

"Our vic seems to have an office off 84th but it does not say what he does for a living. The lease is just listed as 'The Davis Company' Esposito comments

Ryan continues the reports "His business bank account has about forty thousand in it but that is not so unusual for a business and the joint account with his wife has about six thousand. For a frugal business man and his educator wife, that is fairly normal. The credit cards are not high and they seem to pay them off every month"

"So nothing to send up any flags?"

"Nothing" Ryan responds just as his phone rings

"Hey Beckett! How's Texas?" He comments as soon as he knows who is on the line. He then puts the phone on speaker so his partner can hear

"Guys there is another couple or maybe couples involved on this deal. I was at the hotel this morning when a woman came in thinking I was our victim, Vickie Dais, She started talking and gave away a lot of information.

Esposito asks first "What kind of information?"

"Her husband and Davis were in partnership doing something illegal. They made a lot of money"

"We went over the financials and did not find anything" Ryan comments

"They were putting the money in off shore accounts. The woman showed up at my hotel room carrying a case filled with cash. The Dallas PD said it was over three million dollars"

"WOW" both detectives in New York respond to her statement

"And she said it was only what her husband asked her to go get, but no one has heard from him in several days"

"Esposito looks at Ryan then askes "Do you think he is the killer?"

"And was getting cash for a payoff" Ryan adds

"No. Ida claimed her husband and Davis were partners and the cash was for a payoff. She thinks that the two men were being held hostage"

"But we found Davis murdered?"

"Right and Ida said she was delayed in getting the money and she thinks the men were killed since she didn't make it for the payoff"

"So Beckett, what do you need us to do?"

"Go to the Davis' office where the men were partners and search it then go back to the crime scene where we found Davis body and look for other clues. Then get a warrant and search Wally and Ida Crawford's house. See what clues you can find"

"Boss, what were these guys into?" Esposito asks

"I don't know. I wish Rick were here to come up with one of his crazy theories" Beckett comments

Esposito reaches over to hit the mute button on the phone

"I wonder if that is the only reason she wants him there?" he pops off

Ryan looks across his desk to his partner "Are you trying to get killed by her?"

"You think I'm afraid of Beckett? Any anyway how's she going to know I said that?"

The voice of Katherine Beckett-Castle comes across the phone loud and clear "This is how"

The two men look at one another in panic

"If you intended on me not hearing that, you should have muted the phone" she finishes

This is when Esposito realizes he missed the mute button before he made his comment


	10. Chapter 10

**New York**

The two detectives have spent the better part of their morning doing what they can do while waiting for the search warrant to be acquired. Another review of the financials on the victim shows nothing out of the ordinary. The man ran a sales business providing cleaning supplies to business in the area, including the New York Public Schools where his wife of 16 years, and another murder victim, Vickie Davis was a principle.

Detective Ryan's desk phone rings and he answers hoping it is the court clerk granting them permission to enter the office of Ronnie Davis and the home of Ida and Wally Crawford. But, instead, it is Lanie and she tells Ryan that she found something unusual on her victim, Ronnie Davis and that the two detectives might want to come to the morgue for an update

The two detectives head for the morgue and during the trip receive a call from the court telling them the warrant is ready to pick up. They tell the clerk that they will be by as soon as the finish at the coroner's office

When the duo arrive, they find Lanie sitting at her desk filling out various forms concerning the half dozen cases she currently has open including Mr. Davis. When she hears the two detectives arrive she looks up and acknowledges their presence before closing the file in front of her and picking up another folder on the desk

"Hey, Chica, what do you have for us today?" Esposito almost sings as he speaks to the ME

"Well, I discovered something very unusual on the body while finishing the post mortem. Levidity indicated the body had not been moved, yet the blood pool was insufficient too for him have been killed there And your victim had been partially cleaned before he was discovered"

"Cleaned? What do you mean cleaned?" Ryan questions

"The side of his body that was facing the ground showed signs of having been cleaned"

"You mean like someone washed the body?"

"Yes" Dr. Parish answers

"But to wash that much blood would require…?" Esposito stops in his theory trying to think of a solution

"A power washer would do it?" Ryan comments

"Right" Esposito has the appearance that he is thinking "They were doing cleaning at the school when someone found the body"

"That would explain why there is no blood pool" Lanie adds "There would be no soap or cleaning products. The system uses high pressure water to clean…"

Esposito finishes her thought "and that leave no residue and the machines are simple to use. Connect a hose to a water supply and start the motor"

Ryan adds a comment "And it would not have to be someone strong. Like a woman could easily do it"

Esposito finishes "Like his wife maybe?"

Javier has the smirk on his face like someone who has just solved a major crime

* * *

 **Dallas**

Detective Kate Beckett is sitting at a desk at Dallas Police headquarters with a white board in front of her containing photos and notes about her cases. Beckett is looking like she has made a new home for herself.

Her cell phones rings. The caller id says Esposito "Hey, Espo"

Beckett listens for several minutes as her partner delivers his detailed description of how he and Ryan think that Vickie Davis probably followed through on her threat to 'kill' her husband as the text message promised to do

"Javi, that is a great theory but there is only one problem…Vickie Davis was in Dallas with several thousand witnesses at the time of his death" She really hated to burst his bubble like that.

"OH…" is the solemn comment from her partner in New York

"Espo…did you get a warrant yet?"…"Well then go search the office and the house and see if something pops…Talk to you later"

Kate hands up on her phone and looks back at the desk just in time to see a cup of coffee being placed down next to her arm.

Thinking the person placing her favorite beverage beside her hand is her husband, she almost jumps up from her chair, but instead she spins around with a smile large enough to light the room only to discover the provider of the drink is none other than Detective Salazar

Beckett has to try and remain consistent in her reaction and not seem too shocked by the gift "Detective Salazar…"she glances at the cup then back to the detective "Thank you. How did you know I love coffee?"

"Ever since you joined us there has been a large amount of research into the real Kate Beckett. Most of the officers knew about the books even if they had not read the novels, but still most of us knew who you were and after the case began we wanted to find out more about what made Nikki Heat tick"

She takes the cup and brings it to her lips savoring the aroma and flavor "Thank you detective" she comments

"Not a problem…"

Kate can tell there is more he is wanting to talk about with her "Is there something else, detective?"

The man sits down in a chair beside the desk beside Kate "Detective Beckett…can we talk?"

"The name is Kate and sure. You want to go in the conference room?" she points toward the referenced location

The local detective stands and moves toward the meeting space. Once they enter he closes the corridor door. He moves around the table and sits down facing the corridor

Beckett teaks a seat close to the entrance "detective…"

"It's Jake. Call me Jake"

"OK…Jake. What can I help you with?"

"Detective…I mean Kate. I hope this is not too personal but can I ask you something? Something having to do with you and your husband?"

Not exactly sure what he is asking or where he is heading with this conversation, she responds "Sure. What do you want to know?"

"I understand that you and Mr. Castle have been partners or coworkers for several years?"

Beckett is trying to read her fellow officer "That is correct"

"So you and him have been working together for a while?"

Growing more concerned about why this man is asking question, Beckett again responds "Yes for four years"

The very large, very imposing looking man seems almost shy in his actions "Detective…Kate, how did you feel about him when you first met him?"

She pauses thinking about her answer but as she has always felt truth is the best answer "I couldn't stand him. You would not believe what he was like when I first met him. He was an arrogant, egotistical, self-centered, jackass"

The local detective lets out a chuckle then whispers under his breath "Hum"

Beckett turns more toward the man "What was that for?"

"I WAS" after a pause "in my past but not now. I changed but I'm not sure if I have changed enough for her"

Kate gets a smile on her face "Dr. Mendez?"

With a shocked look on her face "You know?"

"I am a detective. So tell me what is going on"

"Kate. Rosa is a doctor. A well respected doctor. She is published. She has written books on forensic examinations. She is famous in the medical world. Every single guy around here has wanted to ask her out on a date, everyone who does, she always gives them a cold shoulder and a firm No!"

"Have you asked her out?"

"Oh my gosh! No way"

"Why not?"

"I am just a cop. I don't want to be told no"

Beckett thinks for a minute "I thought I was just a cop too"

"And now you are married to a famous writer"

"Jake. Give it a chance. You might be surprised. She may just be waiting for you to call her"

Kate's cell phone chimes "Thanks Kate" he stands up to walk away

Beckett takes her phone out of her pocket and gets a message from the local ME "Jake, The doctor has something for us. Can I get a ride to the coroner's office?" she says out into the man

Detective Salazar points to the bull pin "I will get my partner and we will give you a ride"

* * *

After a thirty minute trip to the local ME's office Kate finds herself inside the "Dallas County Office of Forensic Sciences"

The three enter the office of Doctor Rosa Mendez "Detective Beckett, glad you could come" the very attractive woman comments while smiling toward Jake

"The name is Kate" is her response

"My name is Rosa. The doctor title is fine in the courtroom but to my collogues it is a little too formal and puts an unnecessary barrier up"

Beckett smiles at the ME "So the message said you had some information for us"

"Your victim in New York and his wife here were both killed using the same gun. Ballistics matched the slugs"

"Same killer?" Kate comments "What about the time line? Was the enough time from the killer to fly from Dallas to New York or the other way around?"

"They were killed within 5 hours of each other but how would someone get a gun thru TSA?"

"Good question" Beckett answers "I will have my team in New York to check with the TSA for any possible breach in security"

"And we will check both airports here "Detective Elder responds

Rosa continues "Also there was some trace evidence that we are still working on and there is preliminary DNA that indicates she fought with a woman but the suspect is not in the system"

"A woman?" Kate questions

"But there is one much larger piece of evidence. She has GSW on her"

"So she was shot close range?"

"No. It was on her hands. She fired a gun recently"

"Wow. That is interesting"

The two men have been taking notes during this entire briefing. They tell the two women that they are going out to start checking on the TSA issue leaving the women alone

Kate looks at the local doctor and just like with Lanie she finishes her conversation "Anything else?"

The woman looks aside where the two men just were and then responds "Actually Detective Beckett…er…I mean Kate there is a question I would like to ask"

"Go ahead" she can tell the woman is considering her question carefully

"I understand that you and Mr. Castle have been partners or coworkers for several years?"

Beckett is trying to not react to the exact same conversation she just had a little while ago "That is correct"

"So you and him have been working together for a while?"

Feeling a little Déjà vu Beckett again responds "Yes for four years"

The normally confident beautiful woman almost shy in her questions "Detective…Kate, how did you feel about him when you first met him?"

Deciding to stop the conversation before it continues down the exact same path "Rosa. The next time you see Jake, tell him how you feel about him"

"Kate, you don't understand. He is the most decorated detective in the department. He has the highest clearance rate of any other officer. He plays baseball in the department league. He is an accomplished musician. He is involved in big brothers. He is a mentor to teenagers. All the women here and at the even at the courthouse are wanting to ask him out. I am just a medical examiner"

Kate's head is about to explode. How many people go around in their lives thinking they are not good enough for someone else only to find out the other feel the same?

Beckett turns to the other woman "Rosa! Call him. Tell him how you feel. You might be surprised. OK?"

The woman acknowledges Beckett's directions

* * *

Kate walks out the door to the corridor to find both men on their phones. Just as she approaches her own phone chimes with an alarm she set earlier to remind her that Rick's plane was coming in

When she walks back to the two detectives they both finish their conversations.

"Can I get a lift to Love Field? Castle's plane is arriving in about thirty minutes and I want to pick him up"

"On our way" Elder answers just as Jake's cell phone chimes with a message.

Jake looks at he phone and Kate can see just enough of the screen to see it is from Rosa 'Can we talk?' Beckett watches a smile cross the detective's face

The Tahoe pulls up to the arriving passenger's lane at the terminal. Beckett opens the door. "Can you wait for me here?" Wondering about the no parking signs posted everywhere

"This is a police car. Not a problem. Hurry back with your husband" Detective elder responds because Detective Salazar has been texting one very lovely medical examiner ever since they left the morgue

Kate enters the doors looking at her watch and checking at the flight information board to confirm he is on time. The board says 'At gate'. Beckett rushes to the end of the concourse at the top of the escalators watching for the passengers to come down the corridor

The moment she sees him, a knot appears in her throat.

Her husband is walking beside and close to a very attractive, raven haired woman who seems to be very touchy/feely. This woman is laughing at something and the entire time reaching over and touching Castle on the sleeve or hand.


	11. Chapter 11

The appearance of her husband walking down the concourse beside this other woman caused Kate's chest to tighten. She is positive her face has to have turned every shade of red that exists

What is he doing? What is SHE doing? Who is she? Did he meet her on the airplane and they just started talking during the flight? She is way too close to him as they rapidly head toward Beckett. Kate wants to move toward her man and this other…other person but to do that would cause an airport lockdown since Kate is waiting on the public side and her husband is still in the secure side in the terminal

Feeling her muscles start to tighten but holding herself in check until he passes the magic line in the corridor.

When he sees her standing just outside the exit she witnesses his reaction. Her heart settles. It is very evident that he is as happy to see her as she is to see him and whatever this women is about has no importance to him. He points toward Kate and says something to his companion who seems to be happy herself that Kate is here.

Once he is in the clear she rushes to him where she receives the reception she deserves.

Castle wraps his arms around Kate kissing her as hard as he can, lifting her off the ground, and giving them a spin. This action causes several laughs to spread around the crowd, but neither honestly cares

Once the greeting subsides, Rick takes a hold of Kate's hand then turns to the giddy woman who was beside him all along the concourse "Kate, this is Misty. Misty, this is Detective Kate Beckett my inspiration for Nikki Heat and my beautiful wife"

"OH Detective Beckett it is such an honor to meet you. I have read all of your husband's books and my husband and I have read all the Nikki Heat books…" then with a devilish glee on her face "together"

The tone in this woman's description of her and her spouse reading the Heat books gives rise to a question for Kate but she chooses to not ask for more details at this moment

"It is always great to meet one of Rick's fans" Beckett holds her hand out to the woman who accepts.

This newly introduced lady responds "Thank you Kate" She looks at Castle before continuing "I will get my bags and see you two at the door. OK?"

"We will be waiting" Castle responds then turns to face Kate who definitely has a 'what the hell is going on?' look on her face

"I met her at the book signing. She said she that she is my biggest fan and…"

Beckett folds her arms across her chest "Did I or did I not tell you to Not pick up a book groupie while you were gone?"

"UH…Not?" he responds sheepishly

"So what are you doing bringing a fan back with you?"

Pointing to the woman walking toward baggage claim "OH that!" he tries to side step the bashing he knows is coming "Her and her husband were at the book signing. He is a giant fan of Nikki Heat and he is actually jealous that she got to come and meet you but he had to stay home, because I think he actually has a crush on Nikki, which I totally understand because I have one on her too but…"

"Castle. STOP!...what is this all about?"

"OK" he takes a deep breath"She was here…for the educator's convention and she might have know something about what happened"

"And how do you know that?"

"When she came into the bookstore to get an autograph, she told me that she saw the picture of you and me at the hotel here in Dallas and commented about having just been here. I told her that you and I were working on a case of a murdered woman who was here at the convention. She asked me who it was and when I told her, she was shocked"

"So she knew the victim?"

"She might actually be a witness"

"Witness? Witness to what…exactly?"

"She is a principle at an elementary school in Oklahoma City and she was on a panel with our victim Vickie Davis. She actually hung out with her a little while they were here"

Castle looks aver at the exit from baggage claim to see the lady pulling a roll around bag and walking toward them "Here she comes. I will let her tell you the rest"

"This is going to be interesting. I can tell" Beckett responds as the three turn and start toward the terminal exit

Outside, the three head toward the Tahoe and the two men who are waiting. After placing her bag into the rear off the SUV the three step into the back seat. Rick gets in first moving to the center giving the women the benefit of the window seats. This leaves himself pinned snugly in between his wife and his biggest fan.

Before they drive off Kate decides she will adjust the seating arrangements. She has Castle get out and she sits in the middle beside the woman with her husband on her other side. This way the only woman he is touching will be her

"So Misty, Castle tells me you might know something about our case"

"Well I hope I can help. You see I was here at the convention and I was put on a panel with several other school principles and one of them was Vickie Davis"

"So you actually met our victim?"

"Yes. In fact we had dinner one night and met for breakfast at the hotel breakfast café each morning"

"So did anything unusual happen during any of your activities?" Beckett has taken a note pad out and is very interested in the story

"Yes. On the second day of the convention she got a phone call that seemed to upset her. A lot! After she hung up, she seemed distracted by whatever happened"

"Did she give you any idea what was happening?"

"No. But she did say that she had something she was going to have to deal with when she got back home"

"So she gave you no details about whatever was happening?"

"No. Nothing. She just said her husband was going to be in deep trouble"

Castle looks across his wife to the other passenger "Tell Beckett about the fight"

Kate looks back at her husband "Fight?" then over to Misty "What fight?"

"I walked out of the main hall at the convention center and into the pre function area and saw Vickie fighting with some other woman. I mean they were in each others faces and I could tell that if I had not shown up, when I did, they it might have gotten into full blown cat fight. When they sat me, they calmed down and some final words were said and the other woman walked off"

"Do you think you could describe her to a sketch artist?"

Missy pulls her phone out of her pocket "I can do better than that. I took a picture in case I ever needed it, and it looks like I did the right thing" She slides through the images then finally settles on one of the photos "Here she is" and turns the camera to Beckett

"Kate get a shocked look on her face "This is the woman that was fighting with Vickie Davis"

"Yes" Missy responds "Why?"

Beckett shows the picture to the two detectives in the front seat. Detective Salazar comments "Are you kidding me?"

Castle has been watching the conversation and finally asks "What's the big deal?"

"Kate looks to her husband "This woman came in our hotel room this morning after you left. She mistook me for Vickie. Or rather, she claimed not know her"

Castle responds "Then who is this woman and what does she have to do with any of this?"

Beckett looks back to Missy "Do you have any idea who that woman is or why she was fighting with our Victim?"

"I asked later and Vickie just would say it was over some type of business deal gone badly"

After the group pulls up to the police headquarters and enter the building Beckett's cell phone rings. She removes it from her pocket. Caller Id is Esposito. She answers and places the call on speaker

"Hey Espo I hope you have good news for me because this case just keeps getting stranger by the minute"

"Well Beckett, nothing at the office except a damaged file cabinet, Tory is looking over the computer but we did find something at the Davis house"

"What?"

"A body"

"Another body?" she asks

"Yeah! This one is a male. Mid-thirties. We found him in the Davis' house when we went execute the search warrant"

"Do you have an id on him?"

"A Wally Crawford. We are trying to locate his wife, Ida. She is missing"

"Did you say Ida Crawford?

"Yeah. Why?"

"Javi, she's alive. She was here just this morning"

"What was she doing there? Esposito asks

"Trying to confuse the investigation. Let me get back to you" and Kate disconnects the phone.

She leans back in the chair and looks at Castle who has been sitting at a side chair just like he does back home

"Rick. I am confused. We have three dead bodies all connected somehow and this lone woman is alive and running around with three million dollars in a briefcase"

Detective Elder walks up to the desk. "We had Misty look at the video from the hotel lobby where a woman dropped off Vickie's baggage. She confirmed this was Ida Crawford"

Kate looks off "Why would she drop the bag off and not just leave it in the room"

Rick thinks for just a moment "So the hotel would have her listed as checking out. If housekeeping came in the room to clean and there is still luggage they consider the room occupied"

"And if the records show her checked out, no one would look for her here"

"Right"

Beckett looks around the room and notices that Jake Salazar is nowhere to be seen "Where is your partner. Detective Elder?"

He chuckles "in the break room…on the phone with the medical examiner"

Beckett smiles "I guess my suggestions worked?"

"Definitely" is the one word reply


	12. Chapter 12

Dallas is not New York. The police station is much newer and by default more modern than the 12th precinct back home

In spite of all the similarities yet more modern surroundings, she still misses her desk and computer and phone…but the one thing she misses the most is the ever irritating man in her life walking up and placing a Grande Skim Latte beside her arm

Suddenly, as if he could read her mind, a familiar hand appears and gives her reason to smile. The aroma of her favorite drink enters her senses causing the smile to appear of its own accord. She wraps her fingers around his before he can even consider removing his hand

"Thank you" is spoken softly through her upturned lips

"Always"

He sits down at the chair beside the desk she is currently using "It sounds like I missed all the fun. What happened exciting while I was gone on my book signing"

She never looks up from her notes "No, it was actually pretty boring here" she continues to read over some information in the file in front of her. Then trying to chide him a little about his brief time away because he had not been here, Kate puts out a comment "Are you sure the books are the only things you signed today?" she is trying not to let him see her laugh

His mind does quickly go to the one fan who leaned over almost putting her boobs in his face and asked him to sign one of them. He takes in a deep breath "Uh…yeah? I am sure?"

She can sense the nervousness in his voice and she looks up to see that he is flustered

"Really?" you can hear the tension in her voice

"What?"

She is now giving Castle a death stare "You tell me"

He pauses before giving her some type of an answer "OK. I don't know how you found out but I promise I did not do anything that she wanted me to do because I couldn't do it and besides there were a lot of people around and they were taking pictures that I knew it would end up on Twitter and you would find out and you would shoot me and…"

"Castle" she leans in with her fiery eyes looking into his soul "Now is the time you need to stop talking

"OK" he sits back in the chair

She leans down and is looking over the notes again when she speaks "So one more time you were interested in someone with big…"

"Hey" The two local detectives walk up interrupting her ability to finish her statement as Detective Salazar poises the question "Everything OK?"

They both respond simultaneously with Castle saying "No"

As Beckett responds with a "YES!"

Then they look at one another

After a brief pause Detective Elder starts up "OKAY? We have found nothing in the luggage of Vickie Davis. Just the usual stuff. Clothes cosmetics and the cell phone found in your hotel room had several texts back and forth between her and her husband but outside the context they don't make a lot of sense but she was furious about something he was involved in"

"What was the subject of the messages are on the phone?" Castle asks

"She was blasting him about some business deal" Elder begins "before she finally threatened to kill him"

"Do we know exactly what type business he is involved in that might get him killed?"

Elder is reading his notes "According to your Detective Ryan in New York, Ronnie was running a medical transport company"

"What do you mean? What type of medical things did they transport?" Beckett asks

The local officer is still referring to his notes "They were running a medical courier service. Transporting lab samples from doctor's offices to the testing labs. Testing materials from the lab back to the doctor. Nothing very interesting actually"

Castle is thinking "Were any of the items controlled substances like narcotics or were any of the supplies dangerous?"

"Some could be. They world also transport radioactive isotope injections to hospitals and doctor's offices for Nuclear imaging testing. You know, radioactive injections"

Becket can see Castle's brain working "What are you thinking Castle?" she asks

"How much medical materials are dangerous in the wrong hands?" Castle comments

"Do you think they were killed for a urine sample?" Salazar chuckles

"No, but what about the radioactive materials?" Beckett wonders "did my team say anything about verifying those shipments?"

"Yes. They said that the company was dependable in getting the deliveries right every time. And anyway there were never enough radioactive materials to cause a public health concern"

They stand in the silence of thought for a minute before Castle finally comments "What about the woman who bolted into the room this morning? Do you think that she is in danger now? And what about her husband. Why was he killed? What did he do for a living?"

"He was a CPA. The most dangerous thing he faced was a paper cut at work" Beckett responds

"Was he working for the mob?" Castle asks

Kate looks at her notes "NO. In fact he has only worked for doctors, hospitals, and medical related businesses"

"Was he working for Davis?"

"Good question" Beckett comments then she takes out her phone and dials her partner. When Ryan answers, she asks the question. While waiting for his answer she looks back up at Castle "You think this is the connection to them?"

"I can't think of anything else, can you?" he answers

She responds with a shake of her head. She listens again to her phone where her partner is giving her more information "OK Kevin, head on home and we will talk tomorrow and thanks"

Beckett hangs up "Ryan said that he was the CPA for Davis"

Castle comments "The murders are connected"

Beckett continues "You know she seemed really petrified when she barged into the room this morning. She said that she was bringing the money as ransom for her husband"

"But her husband has also been murdered" Castle comments "Maybe by her…or someone else"

"If not her, by who then?" Kate asks

"Where did three million dollars come from?" Rick wonders out loud

"She said she went to get it from a bank account in the Caymans" Beckett states

"No. I mean where did it come from? Where did they get this much money? What did they do to make that kind of money? A CPA would never keep that much cash"

Kate looks at Rick and the back and forth theory building begins "Drugs?"

"Prostitution?"

"Money laundering?"

"Human trafficking?"

"How did a company make that kind of money and how much more is there?"

"They are doing something more than medical transport" Castle finishes

The two are now staring into each others eyes. The sparks are evident to everyone in the room

Finally Detective Elder breaks the ice "We can get your team to look into that?"

Castle and Beckett snap out of their love haze and she comments "Yeah, we will have my guys dig deeper into the business deals too. We can do that" They are both a little shaken

"If we can get that information we might have s starting place" Detective Elder responds then looking at his watch "But since it is an hour later in New York. There is probably nothing they can do until tomorrow anyway"

Beckett looks around at the area and notices that they have attracted an audience "Then we will continue this in the morning too" she comments quietly

Castle stands and takes Kate's jacket off her chair and holds it up for her.

Detective Salazar offers the couple a ride back to the hotel and the group leaves the station

* * *

After having another quiet dinner at the hotel restaurant, then afterwards stopping off at the rooftop lounge for a glass of wine, Castle and Beckett have retreated to the solitude their room

After Rick grabs a quick shower, Kate follows suit. When she re-enters the bedroom, she finds her husband standing at the balcony doorway looking out to the night skyline of Dallas.

Many of the skyscrapers are outlined with lights. Some multicolored, some fixed in single hues illuminating the surrounding area making the city glow in the night sky

Kate steps up behind her husband "What are you thinking babe?"

He doesn't turn back from his gaze "How does a man or woman kill another human being especially their husband or wife"

Castle turns to his wife as she moves closer to him and he can feel his heart racing as she wraps her arms around him

She is wearing a pale jade colored silk sleep shirt. The color makes her eyes seem to turn a deeper hazel. The hem falls mid-thigh showing a large amount of her legs to her spouse

"WOW" is his single word comment

"She takes one of the sleeves of her sleep shirt and holds it up "You like it?"

"I love it…just like I love you"

She takes his arm and lays her cheek into his shoulder "back at ya"

"How do you become more beautiful…" and as he is leering at his wife "and more sexy every day?"

"Yoga?"

"In that case, I will pay for daily yoga retreats"

After a poignant moment of silence "Rick?"

"Hum?" he is now holding her to his side

"I guess from now on I will just have to go with you to book signings…you know to protect my property?""

"I would like that" Castle responds to her statement as he pulls her tighter to his side

"If I did do that you would be limited to who you could take home each night"

"I know" he gives her a gentle kiss

Kate is looking out in the night sky and points at a large ball, covered in lights, about a half mile away "What is that?"

Just as she asks the lights start to rotate and change colors in various patterns

"That is Reunion Tower. There is a restaurant at the top along with a lounge and roof top observation level"

"We need to try it out before we leave" Beckett comments into Castle's shoulder

Just as she speaks, she notices the lights are spelling out messages. Mostly advertising

"Hey look Castle"

"That's pretty cool…" but before he finishes his statement a message runs along the top level of the globe

'I LOVE YOU KATE'

Spelled out in giant letters for all the city to see

Kate looks at the message then takes her husband's shoulder, turns him around and pulls him further back into the room

* * *

 **I didn't feel like a cliffhanger this weekend**


	13. Chapter 13

Kate Beckett's body clock is still on New York time and it tells her it is ready for her to rise and begin her day. She rolls over toward her husband's side of the bed only to find it empty and the sheets already cool to the touch. She looks around the room and even in the receding morning darkness she can tell that she is alone.

The bedroom door is closed and the light under the threshold tells her that he is out in the living room already and has separated himself so to let her have a little more rest.

She sits up on the edge of the mattress and searches around for her night shirt she wore to bed last night. But it had ended up, as usual, on the floor beside the bed.

As she stands, she pulls the covering on and starts buttoning it as she moves toward the entry way. This is when she begins to small the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Moving closer to the door she can tell by the growing strength that she is getting closer to the source.

When she opens the bedroom door and enters the living area she locates the source of the assault on her senses. The room contains a room service cart with a fresh coffee service provided by the hotel concierge. Beside this, her husband is sitting at the room's built in desk with his laptop open close to the much desired freshly brewed beverage

"You do know how to get a girl's senses aroused early in the morning. Don't you?" and she walks up behind Castle and leans down wrapping her arms around him and giving him a good morning kiss

He reaches back and softly runs his hand up the back of her leg "Are you talking about being aroused by my ruggedly handsome persona or the coffee cart?"

She regretfully steps away from his touch and reaches over to the cart and pours herself a cup then turns back and looks at Castle "I am referring to the coffee of course! What did you think I was taking about?"

"Huh" Castle pouts toward his wife "Well at least I was smart enough to order you something that you would love"

She looks at her cup, pauses then back up to him "Yeah, the coffee is something I love…" She takes a sip from the cup, smiles at Castle and leans in close to his ear then whispers "TOO!"

She walks around the desk and sits across form him "What is my guy doing up this early in the morning?"

Castle looks back at his computer screen "I thought that I might search for some clues while waiting for my lovely detective wife to get up"

"Searching for clues huh? And without police resources…did you find anything?"

"As a matter of fact, I did"

Kates looks at Rick with a little smile "You DID? What did you find? And how exactly did you do that? Hack into the police computer?"

"NO!" He points at his laptop "Internet!"

"OH? You found clues on the internet? Clues to our murder?"

"Yes I did!"

"You found clues on the murders by browsing the web?"

"Not the murders…exactly. But I did find out some interesting information about the victims and this Ida Crawford woman"

Kate looks at Rick "Answers like how did she get from Dallas to New York and back again with a gun and do so very quickly?"

Castle shows a little surprise at Beckett's insight "Right! I was also wondering that, if by some chance she were the killer, how did she…"

Beckett interrupts him "…get a gun from New York to Dallas without the TSA stopping her?"

"Right" Castle responds and then looks into Kate's eyes "So I Googled her and found out she has an aircraft pilot license"

"Like a private pilot?"

"No. A Commercial Pilot License. She is rated to fly both single engine small business jets"

Beckett grabs her chair and moves back around the table so she is sitting next to her husband looking at the computer screen "So she could have chartered a plane to fly her from here to New York and back at any time"

"Right"

Rick casually places his hand on Kate's leg as he keeps throwing out theories and she does the same to his

"But I also found out she works with an organization, Care Couriers, that flies all over the country picking up and delivering human organs and tissue for transplants"

"Her husband was a CPA that specialized in medical clients and for our victim, Ronnie Davis who was involved in medical transport also. So what's the connection?"

Castle points at the screen again "This man" and he indicates a picture advertising the air courier business with Ida Crawford standing next to another man. They are both wearing pilot's uniforms "I remember seeing him in the picture…"

Kate finishes the sentence "The picture of Ida dropping Vickie's bag off with the bell captain. He was standing just behind Ida"

Castle tells Beckett that he had already called Ryan this morning before Kate got up "Kevin checked into the Care Couriers group. They operate out of New York and fly transplants from city hospital to other cities' hospitals. But…"

"But what?" Kate questions

"The number of flights they scheduled far exceeded the number of donors and recipients they should have been handling according to the national transplant database"

"What are you saying, Castle? They were smuggling drugs?"

"Not drugs…human transplant organs"

"They were moving illegal transplants? How? I mean…"

"There is a large underground business of selling human organs. People who cannot get onto a regular transplant list but they have a lot of money…"

Kate continues "…and are willing to pay whatever price to get a new kidney, heart or liver"

Castle continues "So he and she are involved in all this" he pauses "Kate, where is Ida now?"

"We had no reason to hold her. After she gave a statement the police released her"

"I think we need to get her back and ask…" then Castle points at the man's image on the screen

Beckett finishes "…and ask her about her relationship with this guy"

These two lock into each other's eye and simultaneously speak "They're having an affair"

Castle and Beckett do not even make it back to the bedroom

* * *

By the time the Detective Salazar knocks on the room door, Castle and Beckett have dressed and are ready to go and spread out their theory to the local police

On arrival at the Evans administration building they have their theory all planned out and ready to deliver

The team gathers in the main conference room

Beckett begins by drawing boxes containing the name of the victims and their relationship to one another. Then she puts Ida and her pilot partner, Jeffrey Franklin as the murderers.

Castle then describes the events surrounding the deaths "Ida and Jeffrey were getting paid giant sums of money to fly organs around the country. They got the information from Ida's husband's clients as to who needed organs and who had money to pay top dollar for the heart or liver"

Beckett continues "Then after setting up a syndicate of illegal organ trafficking, Ida and Jeff started having an affair"

Castle finishes "It was real easy since they were alone together overnight in other cities all the time"

Kate tells the next part of the story "Then it appears that Wally, Ida's husband, found out about the affair and she killed him"

"With one member of the group dead, they decided that the next partner would be a problem so Ronnie Davis had to go. They murdered him too"

"Then of course Vickie became a victim to the rampage to make it look like they were all targets"

Detective Elder asks "So what was the three million dollar ransom about?"

Castle answers with a simple two word response "Red Herring. They had enough money stashed so Ida shows up here…"

Kate finishes "…knowing I was in the room, she barges in pretending to be the innocent spouse of the victim and is trying to throw us off the case. She also is the one who sent the fake death threat text to Vickie's husband"

"Detectives Esposito and Ryan made the arrests when the two arrived back in the city this morning" Castle continues

Kate finishes "She confessed to everything. They made contacts with medical personnel who, for a bribe, would arrange for organs to be harvested illegally then sold to the highest bidder"

Rick fills in more information "Ida and her pilot partner, Jeffrey, would transport the tissue anywhere in North America. For a price, of course"

Captain Ron Baxter has been standing in the back of the room listening to this tale unfold

"WOW!" How did you figure this out detective?" he asks directing his question to Beckett

She looks at her husband "Castle wondered how the killer was able to get a gun from here to New York and back without getting caught and the only way was in a private plane. He discovered the answer" she is looking at him with glee in her eyes

"You two make quite a team" the captain comments

"Thank you sir" she responds looking at Castle "We think we are a pretty good too"

After the group has finishing packing the case away and Castle and Beckett have said their good byes to the Dallas police The captain once again stops to speak to the couple "Any time you want to become a Dallas Police Detective, I will make sure there is an opening for you"

"Thank you captain" Kate takes Rick's arm "I am happy with my life right now and I think I will stay right where I am"

The pair walk out, heading to the airport to return to the peace and quiet of home

* * *

 **Are we sure about any peace and quiet happening with these two?**

* * *

 **Time to close this one. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers.**

 **I am working on another story to add to this thread and I hope it comes together  
So until ...**


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